AMERICAN ATHEISTS An Introduction Friend, YOU HAVE ANOTHER FREEDOM: freedom from re

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AMERICAN ATHEISTS
An Introduction
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Friend,
YOU HAVE ANOTHER FREEDOM: freedom *from* religion and
from paying heavy taxes so that the relatively few
churchgoers in the United States can benefit from your tax
payment.
There is an organization dedicated to the maintenance of
that freedom for you. That organization is American Atheists,
founded in 1963 with three primary goals:
1. TO PROVIDE THE ALTERNATIVE OF FREEDOM *FROM*
RELIGION. For generations Americans have been taught that in
the United States we have freedom *of* religion only. That
is, we are free to choose which religion we care to profess
as long as we choose one. We are presented with a plethora of
belief systems and told to ``pick a card, any card,'' but we
may not decline to play the game. American Atheists holds
that you have the right to say ``none of the above'' when
faced with an ever-growing list of sects in our
denomination-prone religious system. We also think that it is
your right to be free from the burden of financial support of
religion in general or any sect in particular.
2. TO LABOR FOR, IN ALL LAWFUL WAYS, THE COMPLETE AND
ABSOLUTE SEPARATION OF STATE AND CHURCH. American Atheists
takes the strictly constitutional stand interpreted by the
Supreme Court of the United States. We feel, as Thomas
Jefferson put it in his famous letter to the Danbury
Baptists, that the clause against establishment of religion
by law was intended to erect ``a wall of separation between
Church and State.'' In the case of _Allen v. Morton_ (495 F2d
65, D.C. Cir.) in 1973, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia summed up in a three-part test the
basics of separation of state and church: ``To pass muster
under the Establishment Clause, the law in question, first,
must reflect a clearly secular legislative purpose, second,
have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits
religion, and third, must avoid excessive government
entanglement with religion.''
Separation of state and church means much more than this
expression in legal terms. It is the essential prerequisite
to your survival as an Atheist. Without separation, the arm
of the state can be used to force you as an Atheist to
profess a religious belief or restrict your freedoms if you
do not. Only when state and church are separated and the
church is made to stand alone on its dogma, does the Atheist
have a chance. When the church stands alone, it can be
confronted on equal ground, intellectually, with the
invalidity of its dogmas; with the power of the state at its
back, it cannot.
3. TO DEFEND THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF ATHEISTS where they are
violated on the basis of an individual's espousal of Atheism
as a life-style. For example, currently, the constitutions of
three states prohibit anyone who does not believe in ``a
supreme being'' from holding public office or trust, i.e.,
being employed by the state.
We feel that these struggles are essential to the
maintenance of the ultimate freedom that any society should
provide to each individual: FREEDOM OF THE MIND.
THIS IS THE GOAL OF ATHEISM _ PROMOTION OF THAT ULTIMATE
FREEDOM.
As Atheists, we are NOT Humanists, Agnostics,
Rationalists, Freethinkers, Ethical Culturalists, or
Unitarians, nor do we hide behind any of a number of
pseudo-Atheist labels used chiefly as socially acceptable
camouflage.
Neither are we ``negative'' in our position any more
than those who labor for independence -- *freedom from
dependency.* An Atheist labors for freedom from _theism,_ or
freedom from dependency on god theories. We are also not a
``religion.'' The concept of an agency outside of nature with
the ability to reach into natural law and to control events
is _supernaturalism,_ the foundation of any religion. The
existence of that agency is based on subjective faith and
belief systems. An Atheist has no belief system. We accept
only that which is scientifically verifiable. Since god
concepts are unverifiable, we do not accept them.
Humanists are persons who are committed to a grossly
generalized idea of ``doing good'' for humankind. The Roman
Catholic Erasmus was considered the first Humanist, and all
religions lay claim to Humanism as part of their dogma. An
Atheist knows that ``doing good'' for humankind has no
restrictions as an activity. Anyone may participate; thus
Humanism defines everyone, the religious and the
nonreligious.
_Rationalist_ was a term first used in the eighteenth
century by Protestants in England and France to denote those
who felt that the Bible could be accepted through
rationalization; that is, it should not be taken literally.
Atheists know that rationalization of basically false dogmas
is futile. If a theological system is logically untenable, it
must be abandoned.
_Ethical Culturism was_ founded in the late 1800s in
America by a Jew, Felix Adler. It was designed to replace
religious systems with a system of secular ethics. Atheists
know that ethics and morality have nothing to do with
religious systems. All Atheists have ethics and morals which
are gathered from life and human history.
_Freethinker_ was the name adopted in early
nineteenth-century Europe by those persons who questioned
Trinitarian religion and supported the concept of one god.
Atheists are not caught up in the game of freedom of
interpretation within a theistic system. Atheists are simply
*free from theism* altogether.
ATHEISTS ARE:
1. POSITIVE! We are for solutions to human problems here
and now, not in some never-never land after death. The
concept of a place where all human needs are fulfilled and
there is no hunger, poverty, or disease is an attainable goal
here and now through human effort and interaction.
2. ECLECTIC! We draw information from a variety of
sources around us, selecting the best to be applied to the
solution of human problems. We do not limit ourselves, as
does the theist, to a set spectrum of allowable information
with dogmatic systems based on faith.
3. INNER-DIRECTED! This is in distinction to being
outer-directed as the theist is. We rely on ourselves for the
solutions to our problems. We realize that we have but three
areas from which we can draw guidelines to aid us: natural
history, human history, and communication with our fellow
human beings. We cannot rely on supernatural intervention
into our problem-solving processes.
4. INDEPENDENT! We have no system of dependence on rigid
dogmas to govern the events of our daily lives. The theist
relies on a set of specific rules of conduct on a daily
basis. Such a person is dependent upon those rules to
function normally. An Atheist can function normally in
society without reference to any arbitrary set of rules for
his conduct.
5. HAPPY! Atheists are content with their life-style.
They are *not* unhappy that they have not chosen a closed
theistic system inside of which they must operate. Atheists
are comfortable and content with a life-style free from
theism.
6. CONCERNED WITH PRESERVATION OF FREEDOM! We know that
one is born within a circle of freedom. The size of that
circle is directly proportional to the number of freedoms one
enjoys. It is the duty of each of us to see to it that during
our lifetime that circle of freedom is never decreased, that
it either remains the same size or is enlarged. We know that
if we allow it to decrease that the following generation will
have a smaller circle with which to start. Each generation
must preserve the freedoms gained by the previous generation
and enlarge on them if possible. Each freedom that is
preserved is a stepping stone toward the achievement and
preservation of the ultimate freedom: *freedom of the mind.*
In keeping with this concern, Atheists have a dual
attitude toward religion. From a logical perspective,
religion is untenable and even harmful to the human thought
process; it is something to be held in contempt of logic and
reason. From a legal perspective, however, profession of
religion is the civil right of any individual. If a man
wishes to believe he is a tree, for example, that is his
prerogative as long as he does not interfere with anyone
else. When there is interference on the part of the religious
community, the Atheist can and does object.
Religion does interfere in many areas of our lives on a
daily basis. Let's take a look at some of the areas of
interference.
Only one person of every four in the United States
attends church regularly; most who do are children. There are
over 97 million persons in our population who have never
entered a church. In the total population, of the persons who
allegedly do go to church, attendance is about three to five
times a year. Church attendance is most often motivated by
family, social, business, or peer pressure --not by a belief
in the church doctrines and dogma.
Yet the average family in the United States pays a
minimum of $925 a year in hidden taxes to keep churches from
all tax -- on real estate, on non-related businesses, on
income, and on their enormous wealth in stocks and bonds.
Churches pay no sales tax, inheritance tax, income tax,
personal tax, or ad valorem tax. They may own and operate
businesses exempt from all corporation tax.
The _Wall Street Journal,_ CBS television, and United
Press have found that the holdings of the Roman Catholic
church alone exceed the total assets of the five largest
American corporations (General Motors, Exxon, Ford, Mobil,
and Texaco). The Protestants own nearly as much.
Internal Revenue Service reports that the cash donations
to churches annually are at least $49 billion (1991). This
does not include profits from businesses, property renewals,
wills, stock holdings, bond holdings, retirement centers, or
lease-back arrangements.
The ``lease-back'' gimmick is a particularly pernicious
method that churches use to take advantage of their
tax-exempt status. A church purchases a business on paper for
an agreed sum like $1.00. Ownership passes with the sale; the
business is then exempt from property tax and corporate
income tax. The church then leases the business back to the
original owner for a set monthly fee. The lease payments to
the new owner, the church, are tax-deductible by the business
as a donation to the church. Thus government is swindled out
of the tax it would have collected on the land on which the
business is located, the business's income generally, and the
amount deducted by the business as a contribution to a
church. The church wins, the business wins -- but the
government and ordinary taxpayers lose!
Every tax dollar that the church or any business avoids
paying, you as an individual taxpayer must make up. If taxes
are necessary to run the United States, and the church takes
a percentage out of those taxes, someone must take up the
slack.
The churches in the United States, on the average, own
20 percent of all the privately owned land in every state in
the Union. When 20 percent of the land is removed from the
tax base, the individual land- or home-owner must make up the
difference. If the churches paid their fair share of property
tax in your community, your tax bill would be much smaller
and would not need to be raised each year to make up for the
deficit.
We hold that anyone has the legal right to be religious,
but that the costs of religion should be borne by those who
practice it.
We have the right to be free of an enormous tax burden
in order to support the few people who do go to church
regularly. The federal government, under various programs of
assistance, is spending $50 billion a year in both direct
cash grants and tax relief for religious purposes. There are
about 250 million persons in the U.S., including babies,
which means that we all pay, each one, at least $211 in
federal taxes to assist the churches each year. How many are
in your family? This does not include the money the churches
receive from direct donations by individuals and
corporations, which averages an additional $196 per person.
We think that the individual taxpayer who does not care
to participate in organized religion and who stays away from
the churches should not be forced to endure an additional tax
burden through any programming, planning, or legislation by
members of any of the governing bodies, whether city, county,
state, or national. We think that giving churches subsidy by
permitting them to remain tax-exempt is an unconstitutional
violation of the basic principle of separation of state and
church.
. . . . . .
Any logical individual reaching the stage of physical
adulthood should realize the consequences of the sex act.
Yet, in this nation, we have been prohibited from gaining
free access to information regarding human sexuality,
especially with respect to birth control. Organized religion
has been a major opponent of the distribution of birth
control information, the lack of which has led to the
increased incidence of child neglect, child abuse, and above
all, the use of abortion *as a birth control measure.*
We are animals. We are part of the primate group, and as
such, our sexuality is an important part of our social
structure. Denial or limitation of the availability of
information regarding human sexuality and the birth process
fosters degeneracy. Information regarding these physical
processes has nothing to do with religion, morality, or
ethics. They are simple facts that should be available to
all.
Laws governing human relationships are patterned after
biblical admonitions. Marriage and divorce laws should be
based on the individual desires of the participants in the
relationship. Neither the state nor the church has any right
to say with whom you can cohabit. That is your exclusive
freedom as an individual.
Religion is antifeminist. The principal opposition to
the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment was from religious
groups. The cornerstone of Christianity is the domination of
the female by the male. If you are a woman, you must abandon
religion first before you can talk of equality. The position
of women in any religious system is below that of men.
Religion is antiscience. Religious dogmas can never be
verified through the scientific method. Therefore, science is
the enemy of religion. Through the scientific method it has
been proven that Earth is not 6,000 years old as Christianity
claims. Virgin birth is not possible. Transubstantiation is
not possible. The church must retard science, for its spread
means increased explanation of human questions and the
lessening of the need for a faith solution. One can easily
prove scientifically that prayer is not efficacious. Yet your
children are often denied access to the scientific facts of
evolution or science instruction by the religious community.
The church continually seeks to politicize its
theological morality. Sunday closing laws are a good example.
Why should you be told that one day is any less or more
``holy'' than the rest and have your freedom restricted on
account of that ``holiness''? Your freedom to purchase items
on a particular day does not interfere with someone's right
not to purchase things that day. Why should you be forced to
carry a billboard for a god on your currency each time you
use it as a medium of exchange? Why should you be forced to
pledge your allegiance to a god each time you care to pledge
allegiance to a governmental concept? Why should you be told
that the only consciously acceptable reason for refusing to
serve in the military is the insistence of a power greater
than yourself, a deity of some kind?
Most important of all, the worst intrusion of religion
into your life is religion's antilife teachings. Life is not
important, says the church. It is only valuable as a
preparation for death and life after death -- the real
importance is placed on the ``afterlife.'' The world and our
lives on it are considered disposable; they mean little. Our
efforts here only bear on the kind of existence we will have
eternally.
Life, the only thing we know, all that we have, is
thrown aside by faith in something beyond our termination. If
you are one of those who knows that life here and now is
wonderful and should be lived to the fullest, you are one of
us. If you have any feelings of something beyond, a judgment,
something for which you need to prepare, you are still
somewhere between theism and Atheism.
According to sociological studies, there are about 22.5
million persons in the United States who are Atheists,
persons who have rejected the concept of spending their lives
preparing to die; persons who have found the ultimate
freedom, FREEDOM OF THE MIND.
This organization was founded for those of you who have
found or want to find that freedom. We have fought
consistently for the goals outlined herein. Dr. Madalyn
O'Hair, the founder of American Atheists, was the litigant in
the famous case which removed Bible reading and prayer
recitation from the public schools.
You have read about our organization in _Time,_ _Life,_
_Playboy,_ _Fact,_ _Saturday Evening Post,_ _Esquire,_ and
your local newspaper. You have probably seen Dr. O'Hair or
Jon Murray, the president of American Atheists, on many
television shows, both local and national, or heard them on
radio.
Now judge for yourself by reading the enclosed ``Aims
and Purposes'' and history of this organization to see if you
want to join with the few, the proud, and the brave who are
willing to stand up against ignorance and superstition. We
need you, your support, and numbers. You need us to foster,
deepen, and direct your courage to face religion head-on in
the battle for the human mind.
For information, write to:
American Atheist General Headquarters
P.O. Box 140195
Austin, Texas 78714-0195
Telephone: (512) 458-1244
FAX: (512) 467-9525
Copyright American Atheist Press. All rights reserved. Printed
copies of this pamphlet can be obtained from: American Atheist Press
P. O. Box 140195, Austin, Texas 78714-0195. Stock #8291. Please
refer to current catalog and price list for pricing and availability.
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